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Ubuntu Is Close To Recommending 64-Bit By Default

08-29-2013, 04:46 PM

Phoronix: Ubuntu Is Close To Recommending 64-Bit By Default

While x86_64 hardware has been very common for years and it's now almost impossible to find new PC hardware that is x86-only, the Ubuntu download pages have continued to recommend the 32-bit version of Ubuntu Linux by default for new desktop installations. Fortunately, that may finally change...

Not sure why it already hasn't, almost every PC you buy will be 64 bit by now... actually, that has probably been true for 4-5 years now.
My last 32 bit processor was probably purchased over 10 years ago.

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Not that I use Ubuntu anymore, but I imagine they'd not abandon the 32-bit spins until they no longer need to support 32-bit libraries on the 64-bit spins... and for most people, I imagine the holdup on that is supporting Skype, which after so many years, still lacks a 64-bit build.

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Do it! But wait until ARMv8 hardware comes out. On the ARM that only about then we begin to have hardware powerful enough for the full Ubuntu anyway, so might as well go 64 bit-only for all architectures.

This is also why I was hoping Canonical would wait until there are 64 bit ARM chips, before they release Ubuntu Touch, so they only support that for 3 years, as they said for Ubuntu Edge.

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Do it! But wait until ARMv8 hardware comes out. On the ARM that only about then we begin to have hardware powerful enough for the full Ubuntu anyway, so might as well go 64 bit-only for all architectures.

This is also why I was hoping Canonical would wait until there are 64 bit ARM chips, before they release Ubuntu Touch, so they only support that for 3 years, as they said for Ubuntu Edge.

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This is long overdue. 64 bit OSes should be used on all hardware that supports them. I have been using 64 bit Linux since Nov 2007 with very few issues, which all had disappeared by 2009 or so.

I'm in a similar boat. I've been using 64bit since early 2004 and there were some issue getting multlib working early onand some other issues with gcc, but has been good for a long time. It was one of the smoothest architecture transitions I've ever witnessed. It was much smoother than the transition from 16bit to 32bit. (of course that was before linux's time, or rather at the beginning of it's time)

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How long do you think it will take before Imagination Technologies (PowerVR...) will leverage their MIPS acquisition? They've bought over 20 years of, in production, 64bit RISC with existing Linux and Android support for a reason...